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Financial Health and the Coronavirus: Another Failure to Prepare
Even before the coronavirus crisis, global financial health was surprisingly precarious, with many people unprepared to weather a significant financial shock. As Elisabeth Rhyne points out, this issue is becoming painfully clear now that the pandemic is causing mass disruptions in income and employment. She explores the lasting consequences this will have, and calls on policymakers to provide relief now – and to make financial health an urgent priority going forward.
- Categories
- Finance
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Coronavirus Will Be Even Worse For Low-Income People And Businesses, But Fintechs Can Help
Around the world, financially insecure people are fundamentally more susceptible to financial shocks like coronavirus, and the current crisis is bringing the challenges this population faces into stark relief. Innovative, inclusive fintech is crucial for weathering this pandemic
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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Viewpoint: The Markets Are Collapsing: Will Microfinance Save Us Again?
Global markets have evolved, and the reality is that we are now more connected than ever. Should investors look to microfinance again as a safe haven? In order to answer that, we need to understand how microfinance and impact investing are connected and how they are different.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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Coronavirus is Shining a Light on America’s Lack of Paid Sick Leave: Here’s How Savings Can Help
As the coronavirus pandemic unfolds, public health authorities are encouraging people to stay home if they're sick. But for many U.S. workers – especially those with lower-incomes and gig economy jobs – taking a sick day is unpaid, so staying home has serious financial implications. Timothy Flacke at Commonwealth highlights this challenge, and discusses how innovative savings solutions can help.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance, Health Care
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A Spotlight on Effective and Inclusive Savings
Saving for an unpredictable future is one of the few genuinely universal life tenets. But for much of the past 40 years, the microfinance sector has focused overwhelmingly on credit. As Sam Mendelson and Daniel Rozas at e-MFP explain, that's one reason the 2020 European Microfinance Award is focused on “Encouraging Effective & Inclusive Savings.” They discuss the benefits of savings in introducing the €100,000 award – which is open for applications until April 15.
- Categories
- Finance
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View: Why ESG matters in financial services
The whole of 2019 saw a fierce and intense debate globally around the adoption of environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles as a way of doing business. The year gave the world in general and India, in particular, some compelling reasons to improve their ESG standards. For example, July 2019 was declared to be the hottest month on record for the planet, and a report in April indicated that air pollution alone kills 1.2 million people in India throughout the year.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care, Investing
- Region
- South Asia
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Kenya’s Safaricom Tests New Mobile Savings Service
Policymakers say the East African nation suffers from a low national savings rate and analysts said Safaricom could be looking to target that untapped market with the new product, dubbed “Mali” (Kiswahili for wealth).
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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U.S. Financial Health Pulse Finds Only 29% of People Living in the U.S. Financially Healthy
The Financial Health Network, the nation’s authority on financial health, in partnership with Flourish, MetLife Foundation, and AARP, today released the U.S. Financial Health Pulse 2019 Trends Report. Now in its second year, this year-over-year analysis of peoples’ financial health found that despite a strong economy, only 29% of people in the U.S. are financially healthy. As signs of a looming economic downturn increase, this indicates that the majority of Americans are still unprepared for short or long-term financial shocks.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- North America
- Tags
- financial health
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